The End
by HuntressDiana
Summary: Everyone must die sometime, even heroes. What matters is, if you must die, that you die well. If, by your death, you do good, then perhaps your death was not in vain...
1. Part One

**The End.**

**By HuntressDiana.**

Disclaimer- none of the characters featured in this fic belong to me, rather they are property of Tamora Pierce. This is basically the same fic at the core, just with some fine tuning.

As a quick aside- I run the Circle of Heroes awards for Tamora Pierce fanfiction, and prospective judges can now sign up. If you are interested please visit the site, it's my homepage on my bio or email me for more details.

HuntressDiana

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**_Part One._**  
"That's enough!" Her voice, as strong and as sharp as ever, snapped out across the room. At once, they fell silent. She smirked, so that's what it took to get them to be quiet, she'll have to remember that in future. She never could stand weeping and moaning, preferring to face her grief alone. To shed her tears inside, not letting anyone see how much she hurt. To take out her anger and frustration in the practice courts.  
"It's not that bad." She softened her tone slightly, seeing the shocked expressions on their faces. "We can still complete the plan."  
"Even though…" She cut off the Knight Commander's query with a swift gesture before he could finish.  
"Even though."

She leant over to get her sword, pulling it out of the sheath. As dismay twisted their faces and objections opened their mouths, the warning horn sounded.  
"Go!" She ordered. Daine was the first to move, smiling at her with the frankness she had come to expect of the Wild Mage, before shape shifting into a falcon. She shuddered, even after all these years the sight of a woman's body changing, shifting, becoming an animal's, was not something she had become used to. They all left after that, grimly wishing each other luck, until only three were left. Herself and the two most important men in her life.  
"You don't have to do this." Jonathan said, taking a seat on the pallet. "No one will think any less of you if you don't."  
"I will." She retorted. "And that's enough for me."  
"If I order you not to go, will you obey?" The look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know. "I didn't think so."  
"Jon. I didn't take this role to stay in my tent when there are battles to be fought." She looked at him keenly. "You know that as well as I do."  
"You can't blame me for trying." His smile was forced as he got to his feet. She clutched his hand, preventing him from walking away.  
"Jon…" She paused. Curse it; she would say this, no matter how much it hurt her. "Not Keladry. She'll be a good Knight Commander for the Own, but not for this. Pick the best."  
He nodded, with the understanding that comes with a long friendship.  
"Anyone in mind?"  
"No one in particular. Someone young." As Jonathan left he heard her mutter under her breath, "Great Mother grant it's not a conservative."  
He halted there for a long moment, breathing in the smoky air. It was times like these he hated being King.

She fixed her gaze on the last one left, her first friend in all her adventures. She supposed it was only fitting that he, the one who had been with her the longest, was there now.  
"You're going to tell me not to do this too, I suppose." she mock grumbled at him.  
"I wouldn't be so foolish darlin'." He said with a lopsided smile, coming over and kissing her soundly. "I love you, with all my crooked heart."  
"It's not so crooked any more." She replied, smiling teasingly. "And you know I love you too."  
With a swift kiss, which was no less laden with meaning for all its brevity, he whispered goodbye and then he too left her alone.

"This is it then." She said to herself, moving out of the camp into the thick of the battle. "The end of the Lioness."

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_**When the end comes, let us make an end that will be remembered. Let us make an end worthy of us.  
I would rather die in a great battle, fighting for what I believe in, my family and friends knowing that I love them, than to waste away in a bed.  
Let me make this end count.**_


	2. Part Two

**Part Two.**  
She understood in her last moments what Liam and Buri had meant all that time ago, when they spoke of death being useful. She hadn't agreed then, and the idealistic part of her, the part of her which had defied tradition and followed her dreams, still disagreed now. But the hardened warrior, the mother, the wife, the Champion, the Lioness, agreed now. It wasn't in her to die in a bed, but it would be worthy of her to die in this great battle, fighting not against men, but things far more horrible than anything she had ever faced before.

Two men, sitting in a tent in a valley, shared their sorrow. They understood each other, and the woman who had left them, better than any other ever could. They heard the soldiers returning from the battle, and a tolling bell began to sound from the small church in the nearby village.  
"That's it then." George sighed, his eyes bright with tears. "She knew she wouldn't be coming back from this battle."  
"Mithros, George, we all knew that. How could she have, with that thing's poison running through her veins?" Jon buried his face in his hands, scraping his black hair, now streaked more noticeably with grey, away from his face. "If she'd stayed we might have been able to find a cure…"  
"No. You know as well as I that she wanted to go out fighting." The former thief king walked to the edge of the tent, staring out between the flaps at the small body being carried towards them.  
"If I had ordered her she might have stayed." Jon said, "She did a few times before."  
"Only to sneak out the back way when you left." George snorted, allowing his tears to fall now, blurring his wife's injuries even as he stared at her composed face. "Alanna never was much good at following orders she didn't like."

The two men stood there for a long time, their grief muted by the fact they had known this was coming, and knowing that at least this last song of the Lioness was a great one, worthy of remembrance.

_**Author's note; This is deliberately ambiguous as to the enemy and the time. It is set after Tricksters, many years after in fact, but I can't say any more precisely than that. The enemy isn't too important anyway; it's the fighting that counts here, not who she is fighting against. **_

_**What did you think? Constructive criticism very much welcomed! Many thanks to The Silver Queen of Ashes and Lioness Fury on the Dancing Dove for excellent reviews!**_

_**HuntressDiana**_


End file.
